A recent UN report had predicted rise of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan during the current year. According to the 2013 Assessment Report, the rise in production has been due to high prices for last few years and harvest has now spread to areas which were previously poppy-free. It further says poppy cultivation is not only expected to expand in areas where it already existed in 2012 but also in new areas or in areas where poppy cultivation was stopped. Villages with a low level of security and those which had not received agricultural assistance in the previous year were significantly more likely to grow poppy in 2013.
The increase has been significant in Southern provinces. More than a third of Afghanistan's total opium production now takes place in Helmand and Kandahar.
Meanwhile, another UNODC global report says, in terms of production, Afghanistan retained its position as the lead producer and cultivator of opium globally (75 per cent of global illicit opium production in 2012). The global area under opium poppy cultivation amounted to 236,320 ha and was thus 14 per cent higher than in 2011. Nonetheless, given a poor yield, owing to a plant disease affecting the opium poppy, in Afghanistan, global opium production fell to 4,905 tons in 2012, 30 per cent less than a year earlier and 40 per cent less than in the peak year of 2007.
The percentage of increase shows an alarming situation, particularly at a time when the country is in transition. More help is needed to provide alternatives to farmers, in law enforcement support and in cooperation from other countries in the region.
The Government and international forces should enforce the poppy eradication campaign. Aside from the fact that a huge part of the financial support to insurgents come from transport and smuggling of opium, it’s also exporting deaths to millions of people around the world, and the number of drug addicts increasing in Afghanistan.
The Counter-Narcotics law is yet to go in effect. It was approved in 2009, but under the pretext of the so-called alternative programs, the Government has not implemented the law. Once this law goes into effect, there will be legal action against farmers who cultivate poppy crop. The punishment is not strict, but this law must be implemented and practiced strongly.
On the other hand, the increasing number of drug addicts is becoming an epidemic. It’s time there should be tougher control on the use of drugs and its sale. Harsher legislations need to be introduced. The Government needs to increase focus and international donors support projects for rehabilitation of drug addicts across the country. There has been less attention on this rampant deadly issue which is now becoming a national tragedy with the number crossing hundreds of thousands.